Kindergarten:

September 2004:
A big time for Lola as she began Kindergarten this month. She’s got two teachers in her classroom and 21 class mates. It was a very smooth transition for her from Preschool to Kindergarten as she is going to the same school. It was just business as usual on her first day.

Training Wheels:

September 2004:
Lola learned how to ride a two-wheeler this month without training wheels! Her dad took her to the park and within three attempts was off and riding. She relates the story proudly: “I learned how to ride a bike in ‘zero minutes’.”

Baby Fact:

Lola came into the world at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 22 inches long. She is now 5-and-a-half years old and weighs 52 lbs. and is 49-1/2 inches tall!

Ballet:

September 2004:
Lola performed in her first ballet recital June 12, 2004. She got to lead the line of "water" out on the stage.

Forsaking ballet, Lola has now decided to take up Hip Hop dancing class. Great exercise and coordination training, not to mention gettin’ down with the beat.

Swimming:

Swimming is coming as second nature now that the family is enjoying the new pool they just built. Lola has declared, “Now I’m a fish in water!” Well, she is a Pisces.

NANNY LIFE

by Jenna Harju

I've been Lola's nanny (and personal chaffeur!) for almost 3 years. Throughout that time, we've shared many adventures, experiences, and activities.

I'd have to say that one of our favorite places to go is Color Me mine. This is where we went for Lola to paint objects, such as a small cat or fairy, that became Christmas presents.

Lola loves art and has recently been inspired (by me!) to draw on cardboard using her oil pastels. She also does wonderful watercolore paintings. I have one of her paintings framed and hanging in my living room.

We play a lot of games together: the matching game, Scrabble Jr, Bingo, Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, etc. Occasionally, we'll visit her Grandma Peggy and play a few rounds of Uno with her. One time, we went through the deck 3 times before someone FINALLY won.

Recently, Lola's parents went out of town, so I came and stayed with Lola for the weekend. Top on our list of things to do was breakfast at Jinky's Cafe. We both ordered chocolate chip pancakes (yum!). We also took a trip down to Santa Monica to ride the roller coasters on the pier. Although she missed her mommy and daddy, i think we did enough fun things to keep happy. After all, that's part of the job of being a nanny!

Karate:

Karate – Sometimes you can’t tell if she is yelling “oi” or “kai” (key-aye) but you can tell that she is proud of her karate ability. It’s been great for coordination and balance. The meditation and promise to respect others is teaching her wonderful lessons. The closing chant is “strong mind, strong body, strong spirit.”

Hillary Duff:

May 2004:
Lola found herself at the Hilary Duff concert at House of Blues. Her family didn’t have tickets, but holding out until the last minute, a woman presented three tickets she didn’t need right before show time. Yeah! Lola saw the concert and sang along with the songs. Afterwards, as members, everyone went upstairs to the private room and Lola eventually got to say hello to Hilary.

Art is Fun:

September 2004:
Having acquired her Dad’s artistic genes, Lola is excited to be taking art lessons. The classes are taught in Renaissance fashion after the masters.

Look for samples of her art work right here on her web site.

Horseback Riding:

This past Spring, Lola began taking horseback riding lessons. She was posting after a few lessons and even trotting too!